I just recently read a thread about the Toyota Tacomas '00 and under rusting so badly that the frame would crack, and I felt inspired to write an extensive rant about my 7 month saga with my '05 Tacoma. Fortunately I have no rust, but I believe that is the least of my worries.
This "Taco" is a lemon if I've ever seen one. Clutch Failure TWICE, and the first time was in conjunction with the transmission on the drive home from BUYING it (Bear in mind this was a "Toyota Certified Used Vehicle"). Shortly after I got it back from the dealership (Which ended up being a month later thanks to the pathetically slow dealership-insurance company communication) the accessory meter failed. They replaced it with my usual $50 deductable.
Then 7,000 Miles down the road the "New Dealership installed clutch" failed. I found out that they got rid of the original Luk clutch for a cheapo Aisin clutch which shouldn't even see the inside of a tercel's 4spd, and to add insult to injury, upon opening up the transmission myself I found that the clutch was installed incorrectly to BEGIN WITH. As the truck sat for my pathetically slow clutch job, a passer-by notified me that my rear end was leaking onto the pavement.
SO... I drove the P.O.S. back to the original dealership I bought it from (Which was 3 hrs away from the closest Toyota dealership) and told them to FIX their P.O.S. that they sold me once and for all. As I was preparing to leave to go to the stealership, I noticed an unnerving tapping noise that sounded frighteningly similar to my Supra's untimely rodknock (Which started this whole "I need a truck" saga). So, my next wise move was to let the engine warm up, and sure enough the noise went away as the engine warmed up-- piston slap.
I informed the original stealership of this as well when I delivered the Roach Coach to their so called #1 dealership in northern california (6 years straight I might add). This is what the SHOP FOREMAN had to say about my piston slap, "That sound is normal, we started up four other new trucks with the same motor and they all displayed the same symptoms." WTF a tapping noise NORMAL? I made sure to get that in writing so that when my engine suddenly loses compression, I'll know who to take it to
.
So the resealing of my rear end went well and I drove the truck home. Several days later, I was lurching out of a Carl's Jr. parking lot about 25 miles away from home when all off a sudden I hear a loud grinding noise and then a loud thud. I look down at the 6spd and the shifter is out of gear. I prayed to god that it would go back in gear and move along smoothly, of course fate was not on my side. Clunk Clunk Clunk THUD. The loudest four letter word that I believe I had ever spoken spilled out of my mouth.
I told my friend to get out and try to put the truck in gear as I stood beside it and looked at the driveshaft. The driveshaft spun in spurts, but there were no signs of the driveshaft being damaged. My only conclusion: the teeth inside of the differential shredded off SOMEHOW. By this time I had wised up and bought towing insurance, and had it towed to the dealership that was closest to its location. Now this dealership was different than the others, THEY ACTUALLY CALLED ME TO LET ME KNOW WHAT WAS GOING ON EVERY SINGLE DAY. But then again it only took them TWO DAYS to do the ENTIRE JOB AND fill it up with the fluid I asked them to. It took the original stealership a WEEK to do a RESEAL job. Well I had hoped that nothing else could go wrong since every piece of the driveline had been replaced except the engine, I should have knocked on wood.
About a week passed and the check engine light flashed its ugly head. The second it's ugly orangey evilness reared its frightening head, I drove it home and whipped out my scanner. "Catalyst system below efficiency" ...What? Okay so you would think that it would be the o2 sensors right? Wrong. Apparently these trucks have a wideband and it has two o2 sensors and two A/F sensors. So I called my not-so-local parts man whom everybody knows and loves. (And I still do, bless his heart :biglaugh He stated that he believed that it was the A/F sensor. So, I replaced that, and the sensor I got was BAD, it sounded like a BABY'S RATTLE.
From there I took the sensor to my local dealership and said, what is this gimmie a new one. They of course did, and I replaced the sensor. Then the next day the check engine light came on again! OTHER SIDE! At this time I'm so tired of this truck that I'm finding this whole thing to be horribly funny. So I purchased another one from our not-so-local parts man and replaced it too. Three days later CHECK ENGINE LIGHT. Catalyst system below efficiency, both banks. So, now I'm just so fed up with that that I'm willing to shell out $100 just to know what the hell is wrong with it.
As this is going on I'm stuck driving it because my Supra has a crappy owner who let it get low on oil on a road trip with no money in his pocket (Slow 2JZ build time *whistles*). So about a week passes and another lovely little warning light comes on: AIR BAG. :cry: Luckily I have an expensive snap-on scanner that tells me everything that my heart could desire like the future and the weather. I plugged it in and it told me that the sensor in the passenger seat is ka-put. $223.56 from our not-so-local parts man.
Now understand that I bought this truck to be a reliable vehicle that can tow around my Supra from place to place as I work on it, and so that I could have a vehicle that could survive the snow out here. So far I'd say I've sunk about 2k into this vehicle in parts and deductables. I can barely afford the payment as it is let alone sink more money into the emissions system and the air bag system. I'm not saying all New Tacomas are lemons, I'm just saying that the ones with a 4.0 V6, a 6SPD, 4x4, or Off-Road Packages are.
Original dealership: Roseville Toyota
Dealership that replaced the transmission and installed the second clutch incorrectly: Merced Toyota
Dealership that replaced the rear-end: Michael Toyota in Fresno
Also as a side note, all the mods listed in my signature came installed on the truck when I bought it.
And for those of you who made it this far, I commend you.
This "Taco" is a lemon if I've ever seen one. Clutch Failure TWICE, and the first time was in conjunction with the transmission on the drive home from BUYING it (Bear in mind this was a "Toyota Certified Used Vehicle"). Shortly after I got it back from the dealership (Which ended up being a month later thanks to the pathetically slow dealership-insurance company communication) the accessory meter failed. They replaced it with my usual $50 deductable.
Then 7,000 Miles down the road the "New Dealership installed clutch" failed. I found out that they got rid of the original Luk clutch for a cheapo Aisin clutch which shouldn't even see the inside of a tercel's 4spd, and to add insult to injury, upon opening up the transmission myself I found that the clutch was installed incorrectly to BEGIN WITH. As the truck sat for my pathetically slow clutch job, a passer-by notified me that my rear end was leaking onto the pavement.
SO... I drove the P.O.S. back to the original dealership I bought it from (Which was 3 hrs away from the closest Toyota dealership) and told them to FIX their P.O.S. that they sold me once and for all. As I was preparing to leave to go to the stealership, I noticed an unnerving tapping noise that sounded frighteningly similar to my Supra's untimely rodknock (Which started this whole "I need a truck" saga). So, my next wise move was to let the engine warm up, and sure enough the noise went away as the engine warmed up-- piston slap.
I informed the original stealership of this as well when I delivered the Roach Coach to their so called #1 dealership in northern california (6 years straight I might add). This is what the SHOP FOREMAN had to say about my piston slap, "That sound is normal, we started up four other new trucks with the same motor and they all displayed the same symptoms." WTF a tapping noise NORMAL? I made sure to get that in writing so that when my engine suddenly loses compression, I'll know who to take it to
.So the resealing of my rear end went well and I drove the truck home. Several days later, I was lurching out of a Carl's Jr. parking lot about 25 miles away from home when all off a sudden I hear a loud grinding noise and then a loud thud. I look down at the 6spd and the shifter is out of gear. I prayed to god that it would go back in gear and move along smoothly, of course fate was not on my side. Clunk Clunk Clunk THUD. The loudest four letter word that I believe I had ever spoken spilled out of my mouth.
I told my friend to get out and try to put the truck in gear as I stood beside it and looked at the driveshaft. The driveshaft spun in spurts, but there were no signs of the driveshaft being damaged. My only conclusion: the teeth inside of the differential shredded off SOMEHOW. By this time I had wised up and bought towing insurance, and had it towed to the dealership that was closest to its location. Now this dealership was different than the others, THEY ACTUALLY CALLED ME TO LET ME KNOW WHAT WAS GOING ON EVERY SINGLE DAY. But then again it only took them TWO DAYS to do the ENTIRE JOB AND fill it up with the fluid I asked them to. It took the original stealership a WEEK to do a RESEAL job. Well I had hoped that nothing else could go wrong since every piece of the driveline had been replaced except the engine, I should have knocked on wood.
About a week passed and the check engine light flashed its ugly head. The second it's ugly orangey evilness reared its frightening head, I drove it home and whipped out my scanner. "Catalyst system below efficiency" ...What? Okay so you would think that it would be the o2 sensors right? Wrong. Apparently these trucks have a wideband and it has two o2 sensors and two A/F sensors. So I called my not-so-local parts man whom everybody knows and loves. (And I still do, bless his heart :biglaugh
He stated that he believed that it was the A/F sensor. So, I replaced that, and the sensor I got was BAD, it sounded like a BABY'S RATTLE.From there I took the sensor to my local dealership and said, what is this gimmie a new one. They of course did, and I replaced the sensor. Then the next day the check engine light came on again! OTHER SIDE! At this time I'm so tired of this truck that I'm finding this whole thing to be horribly funny. So I purchased another one from our not-so-local parts man and replaced it too. Three days later CHECK ENGINE LIGHT. Catalyst system below efficiency, both banks. So, now I'm just so fed up with that that I'm willing to shell out $100 just to know what the hell is wrong with it.
As this is going on I'm stuck driving it because my Supra has a crappy owner who let it get low on oil on a road trip with no money in his pocket (Slow 2JZ build time *whistles*). So about a week passes and another lovely little warning light comes on: AIR BAG. :cry: Luckily I have an expensive snap-on scanner that tells me everything that my heart could desire like the future and the weather. I plugged it in and it told me that the sensor in the passenger seat is ka-put. $223.56 from our not-so-local parts man.
Now understand that I bought this truck to be a reliable vehicle that can tow around my Supra from place to place as I work on it, and so that I could have a vehicle that could survive the snow out here. So far I'd say I've sunk about 2k into this vehicle in parts and deductables. I can barely afford the payment as it is let alone sink more money into the emissions system and the air bag system. I'm not saying all New Tacomas are lemons, I'm just saying that the ones with a 4.0 V6, a 6SPD, 4x4, or Off-Road Packages are.
Original dealership: Roseville Toyota
Dealership that replaced the transmission and installed the second clutch incorrectly: Merced Toyota
Dealership that replaced the rear-end: Michael Toyota in Fresno
Also as a side note, all the mods listed in my signature came installed on the truck when I bought it.
And for those of you who made it this far, I commend you.
